Hiya,
As we're all battling the age old problem of weight loss, I thought it's be nice to try to find everyone's top one piece of advice... a kind of if you could only tell other users one thing what would it be?
I guess I'm hoping that we can all get a bit of motivation from other people pieces of advice... A quick one liner that we can look at when the temptation to reach for the chocolate cake is becoming unbearable!
H.xxxx

Even though I've currently fallen off the wagon, but am trying to get back on the horse, (sorry, I was in Texas recently, hehe) I know that the number one thing that kept me going when I was having a rough time, which generally meant binging for me, was that one slip-up does not ruin all of your hard work. There was a time when I had lost 25 pounds and became pretty depressed, I started to binge, but I noticed that the next day I had maybe gained half a pound, I wasn't happy, but at least it wasn't 25.

PLAN, and count. Document everything you eat.

Mine is pretty simple, really... Whenever you feel tempted, just look in the mirror and really look at yourself. Is your stomach smaller than it used to be? How did you get that way? Look at all the progress you've made and hopefully that will stop you from wanting to binge or break your diet; be proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you won't want to break it!

I'll see if I can phrase this right considering we're all here to lose weight:

Don't reward yourself for weight loss. You can't really control the number on the scale but you can control your behaviour. So reward yourself for logging your food every day, for staying in your planned calorie range, for working out X hours per week.

So often in the past I would say, "I'm going to lose 1 pound/week". Always started out well because of course the weight would come off easily at first, but when the scale changes slowed down, I would give up. This time I rarely weighed BUT stuck to the plan and for the first time in my life, lost more than 20-30 lbs.

Absolutely the most important thing.

Put your sleep, exercise and nutrition at the very top of your list. ALL must come after it.

Dishes? Homework? Sick kids? Problems at work? None of them are dealt with until you take care of you! I discovered it didn't work any other way for me.

My favorite piece of advice is to treat food as fuel for your body.
Never let yourself run on empty, and fuel up with what your body is made to run on...natural nutritious foods, not a box full stuff made in a factory.
Don't treat eating as an activity to pass time when your bored. Plan out your meal and snack times and stick to your plan.
Just 2 of my favorite quotes:
"A goal without a plan is just a wish"
"No one ever got strong or in shape by thinking about it..they did it"

Just one?? You can pick from any ONE of these...

It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle.
You are allowed to enjoy yummy foods...just not the entire thing all at once.
Drink a glass of water before meals to fill your stomach.
Cut your meal in half and eat that. Then do dishes. If you're still hungry, eat a little more.
You do NOT have to clean your plate.
Humans were meant to feel empty all day - not starving but not full. Get used to feeling empty.
NEVER eat right before bed, it'll interefere with getting used to feeling empty.
Your stomach is like a balloon. Train it to shrink by eating smaller meals more frequently, then reduce the meals from there.
Do NOT starve yourself. You will binge after doing so.
Do something active every day and enjoy it for the activity. Don't make a chore out of being active.
The body works by taking in the week's worth of calories. Enjoy your life. Be good all week and allow for enjoying tasty food in moderation on the weekends.

Simplify

Find what works for YOU!

The above rules are on my top list, too. I will add "stay on plan 95 percent of the time" (leaving 5 percent for complete opps or bad planning).

Over 30 pounds lost because I kept commitment above all other distractions, emergencies, and issues. I'm trying to get to my next goal (mid-BMI) and have been 90 percent. I'm looking to move up to 95% now.

be kind to yourself, and listen to what you tell yourself (internal dialoge).

most people don't get messed up in the head because they are overweight, they become overweight because they are messed up in the head.

best advice I ever got was from someone who had lost 100+ pounds. that was

don't give up, I have no idea why this diet worked when every other one I'd ever tried didn't

I have lost large amounts of weight so many different ways that for me it's not even about during the diet. What happens after the diet is over is my key.

The best advice I know - Make changes that you can live with forever.

If you lose the weight making changes that you hate just so you can push through to the end result, that misery will have been for nothing when you quit and it all comes back. If a plan sounds too restrictive or extreme or eliminates things you can't live without, don't even bother getting started. Success will be temporary at best.

I could have saved myself thousands of dollars and years of aggravation if I had recognized this as fact all along.

My favorite is advice from Michael Pollan: Eat real food, mostly plants, not too much.

Simple, yet effective.